


Checkmate

by Fatale (femme)



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2018-01-01 00:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The winds are shifting, winter moving in with a quiet vengeance after two years of strangely mild seasons.</p><p> </p><p>Spoilers: 5x01</p>
            </blockquote>





	Checkmate

Checkmate  
Gen: Neal, Peter  
WC: 300

Spoilers: 5x01

The winds are shifting, winter moving in with a quiet vengeance after two years of strangely mild seasons. It’ll be time to move June’s plants indoors soon. He sips his coffee, sets it on the table, makes his rounds watering her ficus, her orchids, picking off dead leaves as he goes. June’s housekeeper would do it, but he likes the routine, the time to think.

Neal is not a man overly prone to introspection or self-doubt, he thinks of his life like more of a chessboard -- pieces move forward, sideways, rarely back -- but he’s pretty sure cutting a deal with Curtis Hagen was really fucking stupid.

After Peter’s little speech about him being family, but more the creepy uncle that can’t be left alone with valuables, that kind of family, there has been a subtle shift in their relationship. There’s still an undeniable bond, he still fascinates Peter a possibly unhealthy amount, entertains Peter, frustrates him, challenges him.

But Peter’s drawn his lines in the sand and Neal’s stepped over every single one without Peter knowing exactly how, not quite yet. And it felt horrible, wrong. Neal’s hands were shaking, when he’s always been steady, thrilled with the adrenaline, drunk on the wide-open possibility. He’d been stealing millions and wanted nothing more than to be in Peter’s office, poring over a boring mortgage fraud case, figuring it thirty minutes after reading the file and waiting impatiently for Peter to get there with him.

But life’s a lot like chess, and wrong moves can’t be taken back. The only way to finish is to let go of mistakes and move forward.

The breeze picks up and he shivers. Time to go into the office. Neal opens his fist, watches the leaves catch on the wind and carry them away.


End file.
